Good morning, dear Friends and Prayer Partners! This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! When I stepped outside this morning, the stars were glowing brilliantly overhead and I could see their brightness casting shadows through the oak tree leaves. Beautiful! The sky has not been that clear in several days, so that was a real treat! No birds were singing yet, so the early bird yesterday, must have decided to sleep in!
Last night I discovered a tiny, baby lizard trying to cling to the Charmin. Strange that it was there, so I quickly took it and the Charmin to the front door and shook him outside. We have our house sprayed every month, so if it had gotten on the floor, it would have expired. Critters get in from everywhere!
Yesterday I enjoyed having lunch with our nephew and good conversation. Seems like families don't get together as much as when I was growing up. We all get too busy and use the phone or email to keep in touch, but face to face is wonderful. God is good!
Our staghorn fern has gotten so big, it is touching the ground as it hangs from the tree, The rain is just what it needed. and the beauty berry bush is flourishing on its own. Birds love the purple berries! Even the Mexican petunias that I had neglected and thought were dead are now blooming their pretty lavendar blooms from all the rain. God's beauty is everywhere!
From the book Quiet Moments with God:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 NKJV
Famed photographer and conservationist Ansel Adams was known for his visionary photos of western landscapes, inspired by a boyhood trip to Yosemite National Park. His love of nature's raw perfection is apparent in his stark, mysterious, black and white wilderness photos.
In 1944, he shot a beautiful scene, later entitled, "Winter Sunrise: The Sierra Nevada, from Lone Pine, California.". It portrays the craggy Sierra mountains in the bright morning sunlight, a small dark horse appearing in the foothills.
But the story is later told that, as Adams developed the negative, he noticed an "LP" carved in the hillside. Apparently, some local high school teenagers had etched their initials on the mountain.
Intent on recapturing nature's original, he took a brush and ink and carefully removed the initials from his negative. The man who gave the Sierra Club its look believed in preserving, even perfecting, nature in life as well as in photography.
Ansel Adams probably never gave a second thought to the unsightly scar on the mountian in his photo creation. In his mind's eye, he saw the beauty of the original and took steps to bring that beauty back into focus.
Someone once observed that "the purpose of the Cross is to repair the irreparable." Through the blood of Christ, we know that our sins have been forgiven--our scars erased--and that once removed, our sins ore forgotten. the Lord remembers them no more. When we are willing to confess our sins, He takes joy in restoring us to our original beauty.
(This makes me think of my nose, now red and scarred, but maybe it will one day be restored when it heals.)
The cross is rough,
And it is deadly.
But it is effective.
A.W. Tozer
I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, with thanksgiving, joy and love!
Love and hugs,
Amaryllis
